


Downtime

by masi



Category: ACCA13区監察課 | ACCA 13-ku Kansatsuka
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-11
Updated: 2017-03-11
Packaged: 2018-10-02 21:44:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10228142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/masi/pseuds/masi
Summary: Grossular receives an unexpected and (mostly) unwelcome visitor while he is in Rokkusu.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This fic takes place shortly before the events of episode one. I am caught up on the anime (through episode 9, which inspired me to write this story :’)) but haven’t read the manga and don’t know how ACCA-13 ends, so there might be some inaccuracies in characterization. 
> 
> Thank you for reading!

Grossular sits atop his favorite boulder in Rokkusu, a book on social theory in hand, shawl wrapped around his body. He breathes in the chilly air. He takes breaks from his reading to admire the sturdy cacti that have been growing stoically in this desert since as long as he can remember. He is on a well-earned vacation. He is at peace. Or, that is, he is at peace until he hears footsteps approaching, followed by a familiar and irritating voice. 

“Chief Officer Grossular,” Lilium is saying, in that lilting voice Grossular has come to both loathe and like, “so, I’ve found you at last. My, don’t you look cozy.”

Grossular pulls his shawl closer. He has learned, after years of sitting across from Lilium during meetings and trying to stand as far away from him as possible during work events, that the friendlier Lilium sounds at the beginning of a conversation, the warier he should be. There are very few people he trusts less than this man.

“Aren’t you going to offer me a seat on your rock?” Lilium continues. “I left my warm, gorgeous house, and all my friends who wanted to see me during my too-short vacation, to travel all the way out here, just to visit you.”

It is obvious what Lilium wants to discuss. The same topic that they have been discussing in private for weeks. It is risky, and the plan is almost guaranteed to fail and end badly for both of them. There will be no talk of this topic in Grossular’s favorite place. 

“You are mistaken,” Grossular says. “The person you seek is elsewhere.”

A good, clever answer. After all, the person Lilium is seeking, the one who can stage a coup with him to prevent a dictatorship, who can pretend to be the leader and take responsibility for it while Lilium pulls the strings, is not present at this moment. The present Grossular is having a moment of downtime, is relaxing in the great outdoors.

He has seen other townspeople play this who-am-I game when they have unwanted visitors, and it always works wonderfully. He is not fond of trivial games, generally, but he can make an exception today. He knows that Lilium derives a great deal of enjoyment and purpose from them. 

Sure enough, Lilium moves closer, smiling wider. “Oh?” he says.

He puts one hand on his hip. A gold bangle slides down to his wrist, glinting faintly. Lovely, really, against his brown skin. 

Grossular turns back to his book and then flips a page, a bit dismayed. He has no idea what argument the author is making in this chapter. He will need to read the introduction again. With age, he is becoming more emotional, more easily ruffled.

“Perhaps you can ask around town,” he says. 

“You think so?” Lilium’s brown eyes narrow, his gaze focusing on Grossular in a way that Grossular finds rather thrilling, sadly. “I suppose it’s a common mistake, since the people of Rokkusu all have long hair and long chins.” 

“Happy hunting.”

“Oh, it will be. Tell me, what kind of questions should I ask? How should I describe Chief Officer Grossular?”

“Are you two not colleagues? You should know how.”

“Ah, but you see, he’s not an easy man to understand. Few people know what goes on inside his head.”

“You could start with that.”

“Or, I could describe more intimate details. Perhaps … how he likes his coffee? Black, in a plain white cup, but he won’t say no to a sugar cube from time to time. Stir it five times, starting from the center and slowly moving outward.”

Grossular closes his book. It is getting dark anyway. He could return to his house, but he knows that he won’t be reading anymore tonight.

“Also, he keeps a creamer ready,” Lilium adds. “For me and Pastis. He is thoughtful like that.” 

“Chief Officer Grossular must have a difficult life.” Grossular sighs. “Having to work with people who watch him so closely. What do you want from him?”

“I haven’t finished describing him.” Lilium nudges Grossular’s left sandal with the tip of his boot. “He prefers wine to beer. He favors the window seat on the plane. He chooses black when he plays chess. He has double-jointed fingers. How do I know the last fact?” He lowers his voice. “Once, when he was sucking-”

“Thank you, that is quite enough, Chief Officer Lilium.”

“Chief Officer Grossular is also a man about to lose what he holds most dear because he has no idea how to play the long, subtle, and unsavory game called Dōwā Politics. Or, he pretends not to. Which is why he needs me.” 

“Really.”

“Also, he likes it when I do this.” Lilium reaches around and yanks out Grossular’s hair tie.

Grossular would protest, but Lilium is now moving his fingers through the hair, slowly, tenderly, his face somber. Then Lilium leans down, and Grossular tilts his chin up, lets Lilium kiss him.

After Lilium has gotten his fill, he straightens up and says, “So! Have I found Grossular?”

“Not quite.” Grossular stands up. 

And, because there is no one around, and maybe because he is feeling rather fond all of a sudden, he touches Lilium’s cheek and then his bottom lip, which is wet with their saliva. Lilium does not back away or make a flippant remark. Grossular says, “Follow me.”

He returns to his house with Lilium walking close behind him. Lilium makes comments from time to time – “quaint,” “charming,” “your walls are so thin, the neighbors are going to hear everything, everything you know” – until Grossular takes him into the sitting room, in which there is a chessboard set out on the table farthest from the windows. The pieces are all in place.

“Now,” Grossular says, “we can talk.” 

“Or,” Lilium says, fingering the topmost button of his shirt, “we can talk later and fuck first.”

Grossular frowns. 

Lilium laughs and says, “Aw, don’t give me that look. I won’t impose on you for long. I’ll be out of your hair by tonight.”

They could do it here, after Grossular closes the curtains. They’ve fucked in more uncomfortable places before. The worst was Prince Schwan’s narrow shoe closet in the palace, with the crown prince whining about something in the hallway, and a royal stink everywhere, and his hand knocking over a row of leather boots as Lilium pressed into him from behind. 

But, well, they are on vacation, and there is a firm mattress upstairs. It is good for his back. 

“Fine,” Grossular says. 

He takes Lilium up to his room and closes the door behind them. 

When they are by themselves in closed rooms, they manage to get along by engaging in a series of agreements. Grossular is the one who does the agreeing. Yes, to kissing, to having sex at least once in almost every single one of the thirteen districts, to the makeshift restraints, to the blindfold, to every creative and awkward position. Yes, he knows he will say eventually, to dissolving the Inspection Department, to a coup, to taking the blame. Yes, for the people of Dōwā. Yes, to feel this way a little longer. 

It scares him, sometimes. Not Lilium. He is not afraid of Lilium, but what Lilium brings out in him. It excites him too.

“That was relaxing,” Lilium says, an hour later. His left leg is draped over Grossular’s waist, and he pulls the shawl over his chest, almost lovingly. “You have a nice bed. So do I, by the way. Next time we’re on vacation, you can visit me.”

Grossular closes his eyes and thinks about moving a few inches to the left, put his head over Lilium’s heart perhaps. 

Lilium asks, “So, are you up for a game of chess?”

He is smiling, slightly, and Grossular reaches over and touches the faint lines that have appeared around his mouth. Lilium turns his head. He kisses the heel of Grossular’s hand. 

“Or, we can have dinner first,” Lilium suggests, so that Grossular doesn’t have to.

“Yes,” Grossular says.


End file.
